"We Say What You Think": Is Populism the Future of European Politics?

Demos and the Open Society Foundationsare jointly organizing this conference about why populists are attracting support away from mainstream parties across Europe. It will cover three themes:

identity and multiculturalism;

loss of trust in institutions and mainstream politics;

the impact of recession and austerity.

A further session will discuss how social media is changing the way populist groups operate.

Demos will present new data on the motivations, attitudes and behaviour of online sympathizers of populist groups in Europe to launch the event. Demos researchers have used new and innovative methods to conduct a large-scale on-line survey of over 10,000 populist activists across Europe. The findings are surprising and raise major questions which require all parties across Europe to reflect about how to respond to voters’ concerns.